Long ago, there was a time when the skies were filled with heavenly light. There was no such thing as darkness, nor was there ever a night. The moon queen, Lunaria, and the sun king, Solaris ruled over the sky with their dazzling equal radiance. It was a peaceful time for centuries, but the moon was visibly becoming unstable. She was aware her light may be equal to the sun, but she was smaller in size, thus it wouldn’t take long for her to give in and let go some of her light.

She refused. “There’s no way I’ll be any lower in status compared to the sun!”

And so, month after month, she endured the pain she suddenly felt due to the huge load of brightness she was shouldering. All for the fear and greed of keeping intact with her rank, she became crazed to deny the fact that she was weakening.

The sun, who loved the moon dearly, couldn’t help but feel worried. He could see cracks and crater-like pores forming on her once flawless silver face, it broke his heart to see it.

“Lunaria, lend me some of your light. I’m afraid you’ll completely shatter if you hold out like this for too long.” He frowned. She, however, was overwhelmed with anger, fuming, she replied, “Oh, you, greedy scum! You’re saying that so you’ll have all the sky to yourself—but I will never let that happen.”

“Lunaria, listen to me. Were you blinded by the brightness so much, you cannot see the good intentions behind my pleading message?" he was practically begging for her to stop, but she only became even more agitated. Her cheeks were flushed, for the first time, the moon was blood red, and so is the skies.

She was reaching her limit, and pain struck her entire body like a saw. She screamed, yet she did not lose grip of the deadly light she’s holding. At any point, she could explode into particles, and in order to prevent that from happening, Solaris was quick into action. Leaping to her aid, he embraced her tightly to absorb her light rapidly just as things were about to take turns for the worst.

BOOM! The skies burst into light, and quickly faded along with her screams of pain. The light was no more.

Lunaria opened her silver eyes to gaze upon the outcome of the explosion. Although her face was torn into a crescent, she was alive, and around her was a blackness she has never seen before. It was the darkness.

With her remaining strength, she tried to shine her light once more, and what came out of her was a dim brightness, only enough to barely make out her surroundings. This was the first night sky.

She also noticed the sun wasn’t there. Did he leave her to a faraway place? It seemed she did not learn her lesson despite losing a massive amount of her light. She was angry, thinking Solaris took all of it, and left her alone to struggle with her loss. “Solaris!” she yelled, her voice echoed through the world, “You, thief! Give me back what you have stolen from me!”

But there was no answer. Solaris was nowhere to be seen, and for some reason, she had mixed feelings of hate and worry for his disappearance.

Stress washed over her entire being, and because of the sudden growth of the heavy feeling in her heart, she felt some light lingering back to her. And it stung so much, it made her yelp at the stronger familiar sensation. Every minute, she was becoming brighter and brighter, little by little. Wasn’t this what she wanted, that’s what she thought. To have the light come back to her? But why was it even more painful to hold than before. It’s not even twice as half the brightness she once had, why does it already hurt even if it was dim?

No, she wanted it to disappear. She could not handle the pain for much longer. “Help me! Make it stop…” she lowly whimpered at the empty sky.

“Please… make it stop…”

As if on cue, she noticed a trail of her light surround a piece of shattered rock on the ground below. The stone, which was as small as a firefly, floated to the sky, absorbing some of her brightness. Her pain slowly subsided along with her light, she became dim once more. She eyed the stone cautiously, which suddenly shone… behold, a star was formed.

After this discovery, every time she felt the deadly light seeping back to her, she’d share it with the other pieces of stones found across the earth. She would take care of them like her own companions, and in turn, they helped her light up the dark but beautiful night sky. None of the rocks were as small as the first star, but the star, she lovingly named, Sol, stayed beside her the rest of its life, unlike the other stars that hovered the night sky.

She felt lonely, however, suddenly stared sadly at the sky, the throne she once shared with the sun. She missed Solaris, now that she realized, and she was well-aware of what he’d done to save her. All this time, she denied to believe the bitter truth that he was gone, because of her. Because she killed the one person who sincerely worried for her, she was punished to light the darkness all alone.

“Lunaria, you are not alone.” She felt Sol tug her gently, “You have the stars to accompany, and fill your loss.”

“Oh, Sol, what should I do? If only I climbed down the ranks and let the sun have my energy, the sky would have never been so dark in the first place, and Solaris would have never met a devastating fate. I was greedy, and I regret.” The moon started to weep in remorse.

“Lunaria, do not say that. You are as equal in importance as the sun no matter how much you would like to decrease your status. Together, you are significant, but it’s time you realize your purpose of lighting up the darkness. Even though the sun was not there, people are thankful the moon still stayed to guide them. Yet you should keep in mind, it is alright to seek help from others, it will not decrease the respect, rather it will strengthen the bond you held with each other, knowing you depend on them as much as they do to you.”

“…” She didn’t reply. Instead, she looked away, and focused at the other stars who danced in bliss without care. She also noticed the people of the world, already adapted to this newfound beauty of darkness. It’s like she was the only one who did not move on from the past events. Through them, she understood what Sol said, and smiled as if her worries were a faded memory.

Moments later, however, somehow, the excitement caused more of her light to erupt rapidly, she was in an unbelievable pain again, and this time, it felt just like the explosion she feared centuries ago. She held back her coming screams and gritted her teeth from pain. She tried to share her power to the stars like she always did, but they cannot seem to reach her, nor did her light allowed her to share.

    She was becoming helpless, seeming there’s no other way to rid the outcome.

    But she wanted to live on. For the people. For the stars. For the earth.

    “Lunaria, lend me some of your light.” Sol suddenly said. It was a very familiar plea she rejected in the past, but dwelling in it will do her no good. And so she gave the little star the majority of her light. Seeing that he was the only star who accepted the luminous rays, it should work, yet she prayed for him to come out fine.

    With so much power filling up the little stone, it grew larger and larger, till it gave out a sunburst that draped the darkness of the skies. When she woke up to reality, she was astounded to see and feel a familiar warmth coming from his radiant smile. It was Solaris, and before them was the brighter clear blue sky she thought she’d never see again.

    Tears of joy and relief started pouring down her crescent face, which became flawless as it used to be after reflecting the light out of the long-lost sun. They ran and planted each other an embrace one would think to have lasted for years, but that’s all because they missed each other so much, they were so immersed with the overflowing feelings they yearned for years.

    And even though they never have to appear as seated beside each other every night and every day, they were aware of their purpose and the dependence they held for one another. The moon and the sun were still equal radiances of the sky, but even more meaningful now than before.

***

A/n: Noticed that in the Korean version, my name there is Jeon Dong-Ah? I use Pinky102ZaneXd as my general English author pen-name, PPLayz for media (e.g. art, animation, edits, etc.), and Jeon Dong-Ah (Korean) / Nakashima Kumiko (Japanese) specifically for others. Also, the Korean version of this oneshot legend has 3,085 words, while this had a mere 1,500+ word count.